Break 3 - Ubud Temples & Dance

And here is the remainder of our Bali experience - this time the Dance and Temples from our Ubud part of the trip.

En route to Ubud, we took a tour into the 'Mother Temple' of the island at Besakih Temple. It is located on the slopes of Mount Agung, the highest peak (volcano) on the island at over 1000 metres, and is over 1000 years old. There are actually many temples here. There are temples for each of the 8 regions of Bali, temples dedicated to Shiva, Brahma and Vishnu who together exemplify the 1 God, and even temples to specific groups of people. For example there is an iron workers temple where the colour red is used extensively to symbolize the fire used by iron workers.

The Hindu priests are both men and women of the highest caste. Typically, they live their 'earthly' life first by having a family, and then once the children are grown, they become a priest. At that time, they give up all their worldly possessions and move to the temple sanctuary and become priests.

The entire complex is built up the mountainside. Temples are routinely maintained, and just as the churches of Europe are often surrounded by scaffolding, so are the temples here. The thatch roofs need to replaced when they wear thin. If local materials are used, a roof will last about 50% longer than if imported materials are used. But it is harder to get local materials, so they end up replacing the roofs every 50 or so years. Once the repairs are complete, the temple cannot be used until a special ceremony has been held to bless the new building. The same is true of any new building in Bali - it cannot be used until it has been blessed. There is a yellow flag draped at the entry to signify that the building can now be used - and you often will see one on new homes and hotel buildings to let you know that it is now usable.

There was a cremation ceremony at one of the regional temples and Mike was allowed to photo although we could not enter the temple where the ceremony was being held. This was likely a more important or wealthy person since it is expensive to hold a cremation ceremony. More commonly, group ceremonies are held in local villages, usually twice a year.

All temples consist of the same basic layout. There is an outer temple, a middle, and an inner temple. The entire temple is surrounded by a wall, with large gates marking the entrance to each section. The gates are framed by statues often indicating the type of temple. Each area contains different types of buildings. The outer section is used for group gatherings and there are often shelters for dancers and drum bands (see photo below of a drum band at the dance we attended). The middle area contains buildings where food is prepared and ceremonial items are stored, and the inner temple contains the large pavilions for the gods. There is a large open pavilion where the gods are supposed to assemble to watch over temple ceremonies. And there are open bales where offerings are made in many places. When making offerings, the person must wear their sarong, sash around the waist and be shoeless (as seen at left). Visitors to temples must also be appropriately covered - usually a sarong is worn which can be rented if necessary (we brought our own). Incense is usually included in the offering along with a blessing of holy water.

Once in Ubud, we arranged to see one more dance performance. This time we went to an evening performance (along with MANY Japanese tourists who are everywhere here in Ubud) to see the Legong Dance performed by a professional troop.

The performance had several 'acts', the main one being the Legong dance itself. The Legong (at right) is performed by several young women (girls actually) and the movements - both body and facial are very intricate. There is a lengthy story of the Legong - if you are interested, click here.

There was an entry procession, a welcome dance, and a warrior dance - the Baris Tunggal (photoed at right). This dance included a solo depicting the moods of a young heroic warrior. The other dances included a Barong dance (photoed above left), as well as performances by the drum band(below left), and a dance with the Jauk (at lower right). The Jauk is a masked character with long hair and fingernails who openly expresses his feelings - it is a kind but crude character which is loved by the Balinese for its openness.

And once again, we had a lovely room in our hotel - Tegal Sari in Ubud. We were at the end of the complex, and our room looked out over the rice fields. We could hear the chanting at the temples in the distance, the clacking of the bird chasing windmills and smell the fires which were set in the rice fields once they were harvested.

The fields were totally worked by hand and we saw them harvesting the fields right beside our rooms. All of the supplies were hauled in by hand in the morning, and carried away at days end. Of course, all on their heads :-)

And with this peaceful scene, we headed off from Bali. It was the perfect break for us and Mike and Kyle both were much rested to head back to school. Definitely somewhere we would highly recommend and will hopefully return to one day.

Break 3 Days 4&5-Tour from Legian

The camera got a rest day on Tuesday as Mike & I further relaxed at the spa. I had already had my nails painted at the hotel poolside, but now we went for a wonderfully relaxing 1/2 day. We started with a foot bath, followed by massage, then a body scrub, and finally a body moisturizing treatment. Mike and I came back very jello-y and smooth. It was lovely!

On our last full day in Legian, we hooked up with Ketut - a friend of one of the teachers at Pinjara. We did a 'cultural' tour with Ketut of the central area of Bali.

We started the morning with a drive to Batubalan - a district where they excel in Balinese dance. We saw the Barong & Rangda performance. This dance is the classic battle between good (Barong) and evil (Rangda). The dance is performed to ensure the balance between good and evil is maintained. The masks are sacred - stored in the temple between performances. The Barong is a magical mythical creature - the protector of mankind. The Rangda is the widowwitch who rules the evil spirits and haunts and possesses people.

Different areas of Bali are experts in different skills. Our next stop was to the batik and weaving area near Denpasar. We saw both the making of the batiks with the wax painting and dipping of the silk, and also the weaving which is still done by hand.

Next we were off to Cheluk where they specialize in silver working. The work is very hard on the eyes - certainly not something I could do all day every day! And of course I could not resist buying a pair of earrings....

Then off to see the paintings in Batuan. The master here has been at exhibits all around the world (in person). His work along with all of the members of the co-operative were beautiful. There was a variety of styles from traditional black and white, modern bright colours and everything in between (sorry no photos - we felt guilty not buying, so taking photos was a bit awkward).

Further up the road, we came to the area where they do the stone carvings. The roadsides were full of all styles of stone carvings - these are the traditional, but modern carvings are also available. They are magnificent - but obviously not something we could easily bring back!

We then visited a wood carver in Mas. They use a wide variety of wood - ebony, crocodile wood (bark looks like crocodile skin), teak, mahogany and even frangiapani. Most is imported and has to be quarantined and seasoned first. Again the styles varied with the artists - everything from carved golfers to the elaborate traditional pieces.

We reached our furthest destination for a late lunch looking out over Mount Batur and Lake Batur. The volcano most recently erupted in 1994 (also in 1917,1926, and 1963) and the lava flow can be seen on the mountainside.

As we headed back we made sure we stopped by some of the rice fields for photo ops. We first stopped by a flatter area and Mike roamed into the middle of one of the fields. It was very calm and peaceful. And we also stopped by a mountainous area where the hillside has been stepped for the rice paddies. We passed through some amazing terrain en route. Steep riverbanks with rain forest vegetation in the valleys and houses balanced along the cliff edges overhanging the banks. Unfortunately we could not stop as the road was very narrow and winding.

Finally we made it to Sukawati to visit a temple late in the afternoon. There are several types of temple - family temple, village temple, regional and mother temple (for the whole island). This temple was a village temple but was a good one to visit as it had all the features of a higher temple. It was quite old at 400 years. Kyle and I were attentive to Ketut as Mike roamed and photoed. I had to explain to Ketut that Mike was not being 'rude', and it was not that he was not interested in the stories - just that he was drawn away by the strong magnetic force of his camera to the photo opportunities!

And on our final drive back to the hotel, we continued to pass wonderful sites - this was a statue in the middle of the roundabout near Denpasar - about 40 feet high I'd guess. The black and white cloth represents the balance again between good and evil. Similar to the 'ying' and 'yang' of the Chinese culture.

So after a rather expensive day of souvenir shopping, we were ready to head to Amed on the east coast to lay back and enjoy the sun and check out the north east coast of Bali.